Knitting machine



Dec. 31, 1935.

v s. A. WELCH mm. 2,025,964

KNITTING MACHINE I Filed Dec. 12, 1931 2 sheets-sheet 1 3 71 1 J F194. 'FIGIS.

a1 45 a so I r m 657071 an 2s k F|G-5 15 an 18 a1 2.5 22

Attorngys Patented Dec. 31, 1935 UNITED STATES KNITTING mom Sidney Arthur Welch, Albert Fairholme ,Guyler,

William Henry Boaler, and John '1 homas Ashby, Spondon, near Derby, England, assignors to Celanese Corporation of America, a corporation of Delaware Application December 12, 1931, Serial No. 530,597

In Great Britain January 26, 1931 16 Claims.

This invention relates to knitting machines, and particularly to flat weft knitting machines of the kind which are provided with sliding needles and sinkers operated by suitable cams.

The invention is principally concerned with the operation of the sinkers, not only in machines having a constant stroke, but also those having a variable stroke, for example, the machines described in U. S. application S. No. 469,448 filed 21st July, 1930 in which the stroke is varied in accordance with the width at any course of the fabric or article being knitted, and the frequency of the courses is-made substantially inversely proportional to the lengths of. the courses.

The invention is also concerned with means ror changing the presser cam lead in, machines of the above character employing bearded needles.

According to the invention, the sinker operating cams are so arranged as to occupy alternately at successive courses two positions which are situated ,on each side of, and preferably substantially symmetrical with respect to, the knitting position determined by the needle cams, each position being such a distance to the side of theneedle cams as to ailord the requisite lead in either direction of movement of the needle and sinker cams. Conveniently two cams are employed, slidable in the direction of the traverse to give the correct lead in successive strokes, and movable towards and away from the needles out of and into loop-forming position. These cams may each serve alternately as loop-forming and holdingdown cams, their movements towards and away from the needles causing them to exchange functions at the time when the lead is adjusted, i. e., at the end of each stroke. With such dual-purpose cams, it is, only necessary to provide each with a profile suitable for either operation.

In the case of machines operating with a traverse of constant length, the sinker operatingmeans may be caused to change the sinker lead by means of fixed (though preferably adjustable) stops mounted on the machine frame and engaged by mechanism on the cain box connected to the sinker operating mean's. Similar stops may be used in the case of variable traverse mechanism, as for example that described in U. S. application S. No. 469,448, but it is preferred to effect the sinker lead change from the mechanism employed to reverse the direction of motion of the cam box itself, so that the lead change always takes place at the correct instant whatever the length of stroke of the cam box.

The sinkers may be used with latch needles, tho they are more usually associated with be needles, particularly in themanufacture of fine-gauge knit-wear. With bearded needles, provision has to be made for pressing the beards on thedescent of the needles, and here again there must be a change or lead at successive courses. For this purpose, a-single cam may be employed, movable from one position to another at the end of each stroke, or, and more conveniently, two cams may be used movable alternately into and out of working position. The presser cam or cams may be operated directly or indirectly by the mechanism employed to effect the sinker lead change, or by entirely independent mechanism. It is preferred for this purpose to employ individual presser jacks, acting on the individual needies and acted upon in turn by the presser cams.

The arrangements above described may conveniently be used in connection with the yarn guide control mechanismdescribed in U. S. .application S. No. 580,596 filed Dec. 12, 1931 for operating' the yarn guide? in correct relationship to the needle cams and sinker cams.

The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate the invention as applied to a knitting machine of the kind described in U. S. application S. No. 469,448, and in connection with the yarn guide driving mechanism described in U. S. application S. No. 580,596 filed Dec. 12; 1931. It is to be understood, however, that this description is given by way of example only, and is in no respect limitative.

Fig. 1 is a rear elevation of the mechanism according to the invention as applied to a knitting machine of the kind described in U. S. application S. No."469,448; I

Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 a side elevation in section through the line 3-3 of Fig. 1';

Fig. 4 shows a modification of driving mechanism illustrated in Fig. 1;

Figs. 5 and 6 show details on a somewhat large scale of the mechanism shown in Figs. 2 and' 3 respectively; and v Figs. '7 and 8 show diagrammatically the rela- 40 .tive positions of the sinker cams, presser cams and needle cams for two directions of travel.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, a series of needles ll shown clearly in Fig.- 3, are mounted in a needle bed l2 and are operated by means of 'cams I 3 carried in a cam box I 4 sliding upon a' horizontal bar IS. The cambox I4 is driven by means of a mechanism comprising a cam box carriage I! which is provided with a. disc l8, of which a segment I9 is cut away (at the top of the disc as shown), the disc l8 being mounted upon a horizontal bar 2|]. The carriage II also carries four pulleys 2| mounted upon shafts 22 symmetrically disposed around the disc l8. The belt 23 runs freely between the pulleys 2| and the cut away portion [9 of the discl8, but on the other side of the disc (as illustrated the lower side), the belt 23 is nipped between the disc l8 and pulleys 2|. The belt 23runs round] a pair of pulleys 24, of which one is shown to the yarn guide 35 anism (not shown) lying to the left of these figures. The disc I8 is prevented from rotating by means of a crank 25 rigidly fixed to it, whose free end bears upon two horizontal bars 26, 21 adjustably mounted upon a bar 28. For this reason, the motion of the belt 23 drives the car-. riage I1 and the disc IS, the cam box l4 being driven from the disc l8 by means of a pin 29 fixed into a block 39 situated in a slot 3| in the rear face of the cam box. When the cam box reaches the end of its traverse, the crank member 25 slips over the end of the bars 26 and-21 allowing the disc I8 to rotate for half a revolution, which brings the cut away portion l9 of the disc |8 opposite the other run of the belt 23, and the block 39 and pin 29 to the other end of the slot 3|. In this manner the carriage I1 is clamped to the other run of the belt, and is driven in the opposite direction, the process being repeated in reverse at the other end of the traverse. The sinkers 34 are operated by means of earns 35, 36 which are driven from the knitting cam box l4. The sinker cams 35, 36 proceed in lead of the knitting cams l3, the lead being reversed at the end of the knitting traverse in the following manner.

Referring particularly to the detailed Figs.

. and 6, the cams 35, 36 are mounted upon a plate 38 which in turn is slidably mounted on the under-side of the plate 39 fixed rigidly to the cam box M. The plate 38 has an extension 49 pro vided at one end with two projections 4|, 42 be- 'tweenwhichlies the upper end 43 of a sickle shaped lever 44. The lever 44 is pivoted at 45 to the rear face of the cam box l4, and isprovided with a heel 46 near the pivot point, and a toe 41 at the lower end. The heel 46 and the toe 4.1 engage alternately with the block 30 through which the cam box I4 is driven, according to whether the block is at the upper or lower end of the slot 3|, that is according to whether the knitting cams are moving to the left or to the right. In

this manner the end 43 engaging one or other of the projections 4|, 42 slides the plate 38 and the cams 35,36 to the left or right, and the cams 35, 36 are always caused to be in lead of the knitting cams 39. At the same time the cams 35 and 36 exchange functions, thereby increasing the amount of change of lead effectively made. Thus the leading cam performs the function of forming loops round the needles prior to knit- .ting, while the second cam is a holding-down cam and projects more than the leading cam. For

this purpose one cam slides forward and theother back and this effect is produced by causing pegs 59, 5| to extend from the cams 35 and 36 through oblique slots 52, 53 in the top plate 39. The cams 35, 36 are mounted under the plate 38 in such a manner as to be able to slide slightly forward and back, so that when the knitting cams are moving to the right, the pegs 50, 5| v occupy the right-hand ends of the slots 52, 53, the leading cam 36 being thereby drawn back slightly on the following cam 35 being pushed forward. When the knitting cams 3 are moving to the left, the cam 35 isdrawn back, while the cam 36 is pushed forward. Thus, in addition to moving slightly in the direction in which the lead is required, the two cams 35, 36 exchange functions.

It will be understood that the-cams 35, 36 have their operating surfaces projecting from their lower faces so as to engage the upstanding butts 31 of the sinker-s lying below the plate 38, as shown in 3. The operating surfaces work in conjuncthe right of Figs. 1 and 2, and is driven by mechtion with other operating surfaces projecting from the lower face of the plate 38 to form a cam groove which provides for both the inward and outward movements of the sinkers.

- In a similar manner the presser cam, of which 5 two are provided at 55, 56 is caused to operate in lead of the knitting cams. The two cams 55, 56 are mounted together in one piece upon a bracket 5'! fixed to the top of the plate 39 and which are operated by means of a plate 58 fixed to the sliding plate 38. In this manner when the knitting cams are moving to the right, the righthand presser cam 56 is pushed forward by engagement of its rear edge with the right-hand corner of the plate 58, the left-hand presser cam 55 being swung back to an inoperative position. When the knitting cams move to the left, the plate 58 is moved to the left with the plate 38 and relatively to the plate 39 carrying the presser cams 55, 56. This causes the rear edge of the cam 55 to be engaged by the plate 58, so that the cam 55 swings forward and the cam 56 swings back to the inoperative position. The earns 55 and 56 act upon presser jacks 59, shown in Fig. 6.

The relative positions of the actual sinker cams,

sinker cams. Referring to the sinker cams themselves the cam blocks 92, 93 and the counter cam 94 are mounted rigidly on the underside of the plate 38 referred to above, while the cam blocks 95, 96 are mounted upon the plates 35, 36 which are adapted to slide to and fro in slots 91 in the plate 38. This motion is effected as described above by the pins 50, 5| sliding'in the slots 52, 53. As shown in solid lines in Fig. 7 the needle cams, sinker cams and presser cams are moving to the left, and itwill be seen that the centre line of the sinker cams 95, 96 is to the left of the centre line of the needle cams while of the two presser cams 65, 56 the left hand cam 55 is pressed into operating position. Further, it will be noted that theieading sinker cam 95 is drawn back to cause the sinkers to form loops round the needles prior to knitting, while the following cam 96 is pushed forward as indicated by the solid arrows to act as a holding down cam during the knitting operation of the needles. When, however. the needle cams move to the right the plate 33 slips to the right so bringing the centre line sinker cams 92-96 to the other side of the centre line of the needle cams 99,- 9| as shown in dotted lines. Further, as shown by the dotted arrows the cam 95 is pressed into a forward position while cam .96 is drawn back. In addition the right hand bars 6!, and operated by fingers 62 sliding upon bars 63. Whilein this description the members 69 and 62 are described as sliding on the bars 6|, 63, an arrangement convenient for a single ma- 70 chine, they may be fixed rigidly to the bars, which are then caused to slide bodily in their bearings in the end frames 66 of the machine. This arrang ment is convenient where a series of machines producing a number of articles simultane- .series, and means to slide said ously are driven by common means, the bars extending past all the machines, and carrying a set of guides and fingers for each machine. Similar conditions apply to the bar IS on which the knitting cams have been described as sliding;

The fingers 62 are driven by a yarn guide carriage 84 mounted upon a bar 85 and pushed from end to end of the machine in lead of the knitting cam, so that yarn is fed to the needles before the knitting cams operate upon them. For this purpose two cams-B'I, 68 are-carried by an enlargement 69 of the upper shafts 22 on the knitting cam carriage l|.' The cams 61, 68 are respectively engaged by two levers 10, ll pivoted to the yarn guide'carriage 64 and each cam is provided with a V-shaped notch 12, 13 which are engaged by bowls I5, 16 at the lower ends of the levers 10, ll. When the knitting cams are moving to the right (as shown), the bowl 15 on the right-hand lever '18 is engaged in thenotch 12 of its own cam 61,

while the bowl 18 on the other lever 1| rides upon the horizontal uppersurface of its cams 68. .At the end of the traverse, the bowl .15 attached to the lower end'of the lever 18 engages with astop 11 carried by the horizontal bar 21,

and is thereby prevented from moving further to the right. The bowl I is, therefore, compelled to ride up the V-shaped notch to the top of the cam 61 whilethe cams 61, 68 move on beneath it with the knitting cams I3 untilthe bowl 16 on the other lever H drops into the notch 13 of the other cam 68. The knitting cams l3 now come to rest at the end of the traverse, and move in the reverse direction, that is to the left, the bowl 18 on the lever 1| being in engagement in the notch 13 of the cam 68, ready to drive the yarn guides to the left in lead ofthe knitting cams I3 as desired.

In order to adjust the amount of lead imparted to the yarn guide the cams 61, 68 are slidably adjustable on their support 89, in order that the respective positions of the two notches", 13 may beadjusted. Slots 19 are provided in the cams to allow of such adjustment. Alternatively, however, adjustment may be made by moving the pivot points 80, 8| of the two levers 10, H, and

means for this purpose are illustrated in Fig. 4,

wherein slots 82, 83 are provided in which the pivot points 88, 8| maybe adjusted. In this case,

since adjustment of the cams is unnecessary, the

two cams can be made in one piece as illustrated at 85 in Fig. 4. In this figure, instead of providing V-shaped notches, ramps 86, 81 are provided for the bowls I5, 16 to ride up at the end of the traverse. I

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:-.

1. A fiat knitting machine comprising a series of sliding needles, knitting cams adapted to traverse in either direction along said needle series, a series of sinkers, two similar sinker cams adapted to traverse in either direction along said needle series, and means to move said cams alternately from loop sinking position to holdingdown position .and vice versa at the end of each traverse, in accordance with the alternate movements of the knitting cams in opposite directions, so as to maintain the leading sinker cam in loop sinking position.

2. A fiat knitting machine comprising a series of sliding needles, knitting cams adapted to traverse in either direction along said needle series, a series of sinkers, two similar sinker cams adapted to traverse in either direction along said needle cams alternately from loop, sinking position to holding-down position and vice versa at the end or each traverse, in accordance with the alternate movements or the knitting cams in opposite directions, so as to 5 maintain the leading sinker cam in loop sinking position.

3. A flat knitting machine comprising a series of sliding needles, knitting cams adapted to traverse in either direction along said-needle series, a series of sinkers, sinker cams adapted to traverse in either direction along said needle series and to actuate said sinkers in a loop sinking operation positively in lead of said knitting cams. and a plate adapted to carry said sinker cams, and to slide relatively to 'the' needles at the beginning of each traverse in the direction of such traverse, so as to reverse the lead 01 said sinker cams at each reversal of" traverse of the knitting cams.

4. A flat knitting machine comprising a series of sliding needles, knitting cams adapted to traverse in either direction along said needle series,

A a series of sinkers, two similar sinker cams adapted to traverse in either direction along said needle series, a plate adapted to carry said sinker cams, and to slide relatively to the needles at the beginning of each traverse in the direction of such traverse, and a pin and slot connection adapted to resolve such slidingmotion into a. motion of the sinkers into and out of loop sinking position, in accordance with the alternate movements of the knitting cams in opposite directions, so as -to maintain the leading sinker cam in loop sinking position.

5. A flat knitting machine comprising a series of sliding needles, knitting cams adapted to traverse in either direction along said needle series, a series of sinkers, sinker cams adapted to traverse in either direction along said needle series 40 in positive lead of said knitting cams, and a plate adapted to carry said sinker cams in their traverse, and to slide with the sinker cams at the beginning of each traverse in the direction oi! such traverse, so as'to reverse the lead of said sinker cams at each reversal of traverse of the knitting cams. 1

' 6. A flat knitting machine comprising a series of sliding needles, knitting cams adapted to traverse in either direction along said needle series,

a series of sinkers, two similar sinker cams adapted to traverse in either direction along said needle series in positive lead of said knitting cams, a

- plate adapted to carry said sinker cams and .to

. slide with said sinker cams at the beginning. oi

each traverse in the direction of such traverse, and a pin and oblique slot connectionbetween said sinker cams and said knitting cams, adapted to cause said sinker cams in their sliding movement toslide also in and out of loop sinking position respectively so as to maintain the leading.

. sinker cam in loop sinking position.

- needle series, means for reversing the direction of traverse at the end of each traverse, means in connection with said reversing means to cause said plate to slide relatively to the knitting cams in the direction "of the next traverse, and a pinand-slot connection between said sinker cams and said knitting cams adapted to cause the sinkers to move respectively into and out of loop plates, so as to maintain the leading sinker cam in loop sinking position.

8. A flat knitting machine comprising a series of bearded sliding needles, knitting cams adapted to be traversed in either direction along said needle series, a series of sinkers, sinker cams, pressers in connection with said needles, presser cams, said sinker and presser cams being adapted to traverse in either direction, along said needle series and to operate upon the sinkersand pressers in positive lead of said knitting cams, and means'for moving said sinker and presser cams relatively to said knitting cams so as to change the lead thereof over said knitting cm at each reversal of the traverse of the knitting cams.

9. A flat knitting machine comprising a series of bearded sliding needles, knitting cams adapted to be traversed in either direction along said needle series, a series of sinkers, sinker cams, pressers in connection with said needles, presser cams, said sinkerand presser cams being adapted to traverse in either direction along said needle series and to operate upon the sinkers and pressers in positive lead of said knitting cams, a plate adapted to carry said presser cams,'means for sliding said plate at the beginning of each traverse in the direction of such traverse so as to reverse the lead of said sinker cams at each reversal of the traverse of the knitting cams, and a cam carried by said plate adapted to effect the reversal of lead of the presser cams at each reversal of traverse.

10. A flat knitting machine comprising a series of bearded sliding needles, knitting cams adapted to be traversed in either direction along said needle series, a series of sinkers, sinker cams,

pressers in connection with said needles, a pair of similar presser cams pivotally mounted in connection with said knitting cams, said sinker and presser cams being adapted to traverse in either direction along 'saidneedle series and to operate said sinkers and pressers in positive lead of said knitting cams, a plate adapted to carry said presser cams, means for sliding said plate at the beginning of each traverse in the direction of such traverse so as to reverse the lead of said sinker cams at each reversal of thetraverse. of the knitting cams, and a cam carried by said plate adapted to operate on said presser cams so as to swing the leading cam into ,and the following cam out of operating position thereby reversing the lead of the presser-cams at each reversal of traverse. w

11. Aflat knitting machine comprising a series of sliding needles, knitting cams adapted to traverse in either direction along said needle series,

a series of sinkers, sinker cams, a yarn guide for feeding yarn to theneedles, said sinker cams and yarn guide being adapted to traverse along the needle series in either direction and to operate on the sinkers and on the needles positively in lead of said knitting cams, and means for moving said sinker cams and said yarn guide relatively to said knitting cams so as to change the lead thereof over said knitting cams at each reversal of the traverse of the knitting cams.

12. A flatknitting machine comprising a series of sliding bearded needles, knitting cams adapted to be traversed in' either direction along said needle series, sinkers, sinker cams, pressers in sinking position upon the sliding motion of said connection with said needles, presser cams, a yarn guide adapted to feed yamto the needles, said sinker cams, presser cams and yarn guide being adapted to traverse in either direction along said v needle series and to operate upon said sinkers, 5 pressers, and needles respectively in positive lead of said knitting cams, and means for moving said sinker cams, presser cams and yarn guide relatively to said knitting cams so as to change the lead thereof over said knitting cams at each 10 reversal of the traverse of the knitting cams.

13. A flat knitting machine comprising a series of sliding needles, knitting cams adapted to traverse in either direction along said needle series, a series of sinkers, sinker cams adapted to tral5 verse in either direction along said needle series and to actuate said sinkers in a loop sinking opof the knitting cams, to move said sinker cams 20 relatively to said knitting cams in the direction of the next traverse, so as to reverse the lead of the sinker cams preparatory to the next traverse.

14. A flat knitting machine comprising a series of sliding needles, knitting cams, a series of sink- 25 ers, sinker cams, common means adapted to traverse said knitting and sinker cams in either direction along said needle series, said sinker cams being adapted to actuate said sinkers in a loop sinking operation positively in lead of said 30 knitting cams, and means adapted at each reversal of traverse of the knitting cams to move said sinker cams relatively to said knitting cams in the direction of the next traverse so as to reverse the lead of the sinker cams preparatory to 35 the next traverse.

15. A flat knitting machine comprising a series of sliding needles, knitting cams, a series of sinkers, sinker cams, common means adapted to traverse said knitting and sinker cams in=-either 4 direction along said needle series, said sinker cams being*ada pted to actuate said sinkers in a loop sinking operation positively in lead of said knitting cams, means in' connection with said traversing means for changing the direction of traverse at. the end of each traverse, and means operated by said changing means for moving said sinker cams relatively to said knitting cams in the directional! the next traverse so as to reverse the lead of the sinker cams preparatory to the next traverse.

16. A flat knitting machine comprising a series I of sliding needles, knitting cams adapted to traverse in either direction along said needle series, a series of sinkers, sinker cams, a yarn guide for feeding yarn to the needles, said sinker cams and yarn guidebeing adapted to traverse along the needle series in either direction and to operate on the sinkers and on the needles positively in lead of said knitting cams, and means adapted at each reversal of traverse oi the knitting cams to move said sinker cams and said yarn guide relatively to said knitting cams in the direction of the next traverse so as to reverse the lead of the sinker cams and the yarnguide preparatory to the next traverse. I

SIDNEY ARTHUR WELSH.

ALBERT FAIRHOLME GUYLER.

WILLIAM HENRY BOALER.

JOHN THOMAS ASHBY. t 

